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fingerprint

noun · verb

Simple meaning

The natural pattern of ridges on the tips of human fingers, unique to each individual.

Pronunciation

Say it like this:

finggerprint

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US device voice
IPA pronunciation (US)

ˈfɪŋɡɚpɹɪnt

This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.

IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.

Word Review

Definition

Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.

noun

  1. The natural pattern of ridges on the tips of human fingers, unique to each individual.

  2. by extension

    A unique combination of features that serves as an identification of something.

  3. The patterns left on surfaces where uncovered fingertips have touched, especially as used to identify the person who touched the surface.

  4. figurative

    A trace that gives evidence of someone's involvement.

verb

  1. transitive

    To identify something uniquely by a combination of measurements.

  2. Take an impression of a person's fingerprints

  3. transitive

    To take somebody's fingerprints.

Word at a Glance

Difficulty
C1 · Advanced
Frequency
Moderately Common
Typical Use
Neutral / general English

Word Aura™

How this word commonly comes across.

Aura for this meaning

This meaning: The natural pattern of ridges on the tips of human fingers, unique to each individual.

Used this way, fingerprint is a reasonably familiar word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It usually sounds natural in a wide range of settings.

Emotional tone
Neutral
Formality
Neutral
Intensity
Not strongly marked
How common
Moderately common
Connotation
Matter-of-fact
Usage feel
Neutral and straightforward

Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.

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Common Patterns and Combinations

How this word naturally appears with others.

Natural / print

fingerprint analysis

Unique / identify

fingerprint identification

Trace

fingerprint evidence

Other combinations

dna fingerprintfingerprint expertgenetic fingerprintfingerprint imagefingerprint card

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Word Family

Related forms, grouped by how they connect.

Inflected forms

Grammatical variations of the same word.

  • fingerprintingnounInflected form

    The procedure of taking inked impressions of a person's fingerprints for the purpose of identification.

Compound terms

Established multiword terms.

  • fingerprint expertnounCompound term

    A specialist in identifying fingerprints.

  • fingerprint mannounCompound term

    A specialist in identifying fingerprints.

  • fingerprint specialistnounCompound term

    A specialist in identifying fingerprints.

  • dna fingerprintnounCompound term

    Biometric identification obtained by examining a person's unique sequence of DNA base pairs.

  • genetic fingerprintnounCompound term

    Biometric identification obtained by examining a person's unique sequence of DNA base pairs.

  • ballistic fingerprintingnounCompound term

    Identification of the gun that fired a bullet from an analysis of the unique marks that every gun makes on the bullet it fires and on the shell ejected from it.

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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.